


Before & After

by kirani



Series: Czernsgiving (Noah Week) [6]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Crushes, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21735970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirani/pseuds/kirani
Summary: Ronan is Noah’s best friend. His very best friend. That’s the only reason he’s considering this.When Ronan needs a fake boyfriend, Noah steps up. Only after does he realize how much he wanted it to be real.Written for Czernsgiving Day 6:before/after/ afterlife
Relationships: Noah Czerny/Ronan Lynch
Series: Czernsgiving (Noah Week) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558759
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23
Collections: Czernsgiving 2019 A Noah Week





	Before & After

**Author's Note:**

> i'm a couple days behind but i'm still trying to finish the czernsgiving prompts!

Ronan is Noah’s best friend. His very best friend. That’s the only reason he’s considering this. 

“Walk me through how this came about again?” Noah stalls.

“I came out to Declan. He immediately tried to set me up with a boring dude instead of a boring woman like he usually does. I panicked and told him I had a boyfriend. Now he wants me to bring him to a fucking family dinner.”

“Okay,” Noah said at last.

“Okay you’ll do it?”

“Yeah I’ll do it. You owe me, though.” Noah grinned at him. 

“Anything you want, Czerny, anything, thank you!”

Noah let himself be pulled into a brief hug and smiled against his friend’s shoulder. 

They didn’t talk about it again but the big day came and found the pair of them sliding into Ronan’s car. Ronan grumbled to himself as he drove them to the restaurant and Noah sat quietly trying to figure out how to break the tension.

“So, um,” Noah broke in. “How are we playing this?”

Ronan shot him a confused look. “What?”

“If you want your brother to believe we’re dating, we’ve gotta play it up. So what’s okay? I’m up for whatever.”

When Ronan didn’t answer, Noah spoke again. “Hand holding?”

“That’s fine.”

“Cheek kisses?” 

Ronan’s cheeks pinkened and Noah tried to hide a grin. “That’s fine, too.”

“Regular kisses?” Noah asked, his own cheeks heating, now. 

“No tongue,” Ronan mumbled. 

“Wouldn’t want to do that in front of Declan anyways.”

Ronan gave a small smile.

By the time they arrived, Ronan again seemed hesitant. He didn’t move to get out of the car and Noah weighed his options. He settled after a moment and got out of the car and walked around to the other side, opening Ronan’s car door where he sat stock still in the driver’s seat. 

“Kiss me, Lynch.”

“What?” he looked up at Noah. 

“Kiss me. I don’t want our first kiss in front of your brother any more than you do. Get it out of the way.”

Ronan’s lips parted in surprise and Noah leaned down and pressed his own to his friend’s. It was a quick kiss, awkward in its necessity with dry lips. Noah stood and grinned down at him. “Come on, babe. Let’s do this.” 

“Babe?” Ronan asked, unbuckling his seatbelt at last. 

“What, you want me to call you ‘Lynch’? We’re dating now, babe. Nicknames are a thing.”

Ronan’s face when he stood was hard to read but he nodded and reached out to lace his fingers through Noah’s and slammed the car door shut behind him so Noah figured he was okay with it. 

Declan and Matthew were already seated in a booth and Ronan slid in after Noah. 

“I thought you were bringing your boyfriend?” Matthew asked. “Why is Noah here?”

Noah laughed and waved awkwardly. “That’s me.” 

Declan seemed to recover from his surprise faster than Matthew and cleared his throat. “Well, I’m glad you two finally figured it out,” he said as he pointedly opened his menu. 

Noah blinked. Figured it out? He shot a glance at Ronan who was blushing again. Noah reached for his hand and squeezed it under the table. 

“Oh,” Declan said, looking up with feigned ignorance. “You didn’t know? My brother has been nursing a bit of a crush for a while, now. Oh well, you’ve got it now.”

Ronan growled and kicked out beneath the table, shaking the silverware with the force with which his boot his his brother’s booth. 

“Ronan!” Declan scolded. 

“Guys, don’t fight!” Matthew pleaded. 

The two older Lynch brothers glared at each other but Ronan stopped trying to kick Declan and Noah squeezed his hand again in thanks. 

“I think it’s sweet,” Noah tried to diffuse the tension. He leaned over and kissed Ronan’s cheek. Ronan’s eyes widened and he turned to look at him. 

“You’re not mad?” Ronan asked. Noah could tell he wasn’t just asking for the charade of the fake relationship but for the real friendship behind it. He shook his head. 

Ronan smiled, almost shyly, and leaned in to press a chaste kiss to Noah’s lips. Noah was fairly certain he squeaked and when he drew back his lips tingled with the memory of it. He buried his face in his hands as he felt it heat. 

“Aww!” Matthew exclaimed. “You guys are so cute! How did you even get together?” 

Noah peeked out from behind his hands at Ronan, who shrugged. “Just kinda happened.”

There was no way the Lynch brothers would let that fly. He thought fast. “He only says that because he’s embarrassed.”

“Babe —,” Ronan tried to cut in, but Noah talked right over him. 

“We were just hanging out, and I said something about wanting a boyfriend but how the whole school was gross and Ronan said something like, ‘even me?’ and then he _literally ran away from me_. I had to go chase him down and tell him I didn’t think he was gross and, well, we figured it out after that.”

Ronan crossed his arms on the table and buried his head in them.

“Aww!” Matthew exclaimed again. Declan seemed satisfied, too, and Noah dropped a kiss on Ronan’s shoulder before opening his menu and changing the subject to what everyone was ordering. 

They made it through the rest of the dinner without further embarrassment and finally Ronan was shrugging on his jacket and slipping his hand back into Noah’s to go back to the car. 

“That wasn’t so bad,” Noah ventured when Ronan started the car. 

“I guess,” Ronan mumbled, throwing the car forcefully into reverse and peeling out of the parking lot. 

His hand felt cold where it had been pressed to Ronan’s and he missed it suddenly. There was no one to perform for, though, and he had no excuse to take Ronan’s hand where it lay on the gear shift between them. Neither of them spoke again until Ronan pulled up in front of Noah’s apartment. He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to look at Ronan. “Talk to me, Lynch.”

“Are you sure you’re not mad?” Ronan asked quietly, staring out the windshield. 

“Ronan,” Noah whispered. 

Ronan looked at him at the sound of his first name. 

“Can I kiss you?”

“What?” Ronan croaked. 

“I’d never really thought about it before, but tonight was… really nice. And I’d like to do it again, if you do.” Noah finished, feeling silly. 

Ronan just stared at him, so Noah continued. 

“Preferably without your brothers,” he said with a small laugh. 

“Really?” Ronan finally asked with wide eyes. 

“Really.” Noah grinned. He barely had time to prepare himself as Ronan launched himself across the console and kissed him hard. 

This third kiss was better than the first two and Noah grabbed Ronan’s jacket to keep him close. He opened his mouth against Ronan’s and the other boy let out a tiny whimper. When they finally broke apart, they stayed where they were, leaning their foreheads into each other and breathing heavily. 

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” Ronan admitted. 

“Is it okay that I didn’t realize how much I wanted to do that until today?” Noah asked. 

“We figured it out.”

“Yeah, we did.” 

Noah pulled him back in for another kiss.


End file.
